It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Develop a health care system that keeps people well instead of spending a lot of money to treat them after they’re already sick.

The nature of our society makes this task a little more difficult than it seems. Two of every three Americans are overweight. Over half of us don’t exercise enough. Over 47 million citizens are smokers. These factors all contribute to chronic disease and its associated costs.

But there are solutions. Achieving wellness and preventing disease requires active and creative interventions, as WellPoint’s plans are demonstrating every day.

• Our health and wellness programs are encouraging exercise, counseling on better nutrition, helping people manage stress, providing smoking cessation assistance and teaching how to better manage weight.
• We’re achieving success by providing health and fitness merchandise and discounts for genuine health improvement.
• Our healthy pregnancy program is supporting more than 175,000 pregnant mothers with prenatal/postnatal nurse coaches and 24/7 bilingual nurse hotline and a maternity website. We’ve achieved lower incidences of preterm births and low birth rates.

WellPoint is proving that focused programs to prevent disease and encourage wellness are making lives better and forging a more cost-effective health care system. We urge Congress to join us by passing health reform that makes wellness a hallmark of American health care.